Former first lady Michelle Obama confessed Tuesday that she used to feel embarrassed by the lack of diversity in Congress every year when she attended her husband's State of the Union address.

Watching from the balcony, Obama said she always did a double-take at the divided Congress. One side, she said, was "all men, all white." The other had some women and people of color.

"At the State of the Union address...one side of the room (is) literally gray and white," Obama said in conversation with TV writer/producer Shonda Rhimes at the Pennsylvania Conference for Women. "On the other side of the room there are yellows and blues and whites and greens. Physically, there's a difference in color."

To Obama, the divide symbolized the failure of Congress to truly resemble the nation it serves.

"We should be working actively to mix it up so we're getting a real broad range of perspectives on every issue. Shoot, I would see that in Congress," Obama said.

"I look at that and I go, no wonder. No wonder we struggle, no wonder people don't trust politics," she said, adding that diversity is also an issue in companies across the country. "We're not even noticing what these rooms look like."

Obama isn't wrong. The 115th Congress is the most racially diverse in history, but it's still 81 percent white, according to the Pew Research Center. There are 50 black lawmakers in the chambers, alongside 39 Hispanic members, 15 Asians and 2 Native American politicians.

Congress is also 81 percent male—only 104 women are in the House and Senate. The nation, by comparison, is roughly 50-50 split by gender.

Top businesses aren't doing much better. In the 16 Fortune 500 companies that make their demographic data public, 72 percent of high-ranking officials are white men.

Nice to see the left is more worried about Affirmative Action than having qualified individuals in Congress. Explains how Maxine Waters has a job.

Exhibit A: You don't even understand something as simple as the difference between racism and prejudice. An ignorant and lazy person could conceivably call Michelle prejudiced, however lame that might be. On the other hand, to call her racist exposes that you are not only ignorant....but that you are either a liar or more likely a moron. She has never, to my knowledge, professed that her race or any race is superior to another.

Look up the definitions. Seriously. While it's misguided to call her prejudiced; to call her racist makes you look not only ignorant but incredibly stupid. No amount of conflation of prejudice and racism can erase the fact that while they are related, they are NOT one in the same...no matter how many RWNJ demagogues and talking heads try to make that case.

__________________"America represents something universal ...'You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman..... 'Anybody.... can come to America to live and become an American.'"
--Ronald Reagan, 1988

"There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America. There’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America....We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States....”
--Barrack Obama, 2004

Exhibit A: You don't even understand something as simple as the difference between racism and prejudice. An ignorant and lazy person could conceivably call Michelle prejudiced, however lame that might be. On the other hand, to call her racist exposes that you are not only ignorant....but that you are either a liar or more likely a moron. She has never, to my knowledge, professed that her race or any race is superior to another.

Look up the definitions. Seriously. While it's misguided to call her prejudiced; to call her racist makes you look not only ignorant but incredibly stupid. No amount of conflation of prejudice and racism can erase the fact that while they are related, they are NOT one in the same...no matter how many RWNJ demagogues and talking heads try to make that case.

Pull up a desk planeteers. Our resident retarded teacher is going to do us all a giant favor by donating his time to school us with his superior I know more than you brain.

Exhibit A: You don't even understand something as simple as the difference between racism and prejudice. An ignorant and lazy person could conceivably call Michelle prejudiced, however lame that might be. On the other hand, to call her racist exposes that you are not only ignorant....but that you are either a liar or more likely a moron. She has never, to my knowledge, professed that her race or any race is superior to another.

Look up the definitions. Seriously. While it's misguided to call her prejudiced; to call her racist makes you look not only ignorant but incredibly stupid. No amount of conflation of prejudice and racism can erase the fact that while they are related, they are NOT one in the same...no matter how many RWNJ demagogues and talking heads try to make that case.

Exhibit A: You don't even understand something as simple as the difference between racism and prejudice. An ignorant and lazy person could conceivably call Michelle prejudiced, however lame that might be. On the other hand, to call her racist exposes that you are not only ignorant....but that you are either a liar or more likely a moron. She has never, to my knowledge, professed that her race or any race is superior to another.

Look up the definitions. Seriously. While it's misguided to call her prejudiced; to call her racist makes you look not only ignorant but incredibly stupid. No amount of conflation of prejudice and racism can erase the fact that while they are related, they are NOT one in the same...no matter how many RWNJ demagogues and talking heads try to make that case.

I see you're a stickler about a very narrow definition of racism when it comes to allegations made about liberals.

Do you stop to suss out whether some poor white guy angrily calling a black man "****er" is racist or (merely?) prejudiced?

__________________

“Boy, you all want power. God, I hope you never get it.” - Lindsay Graham

Exhibit A: You don't even understand something as simple as the difference between racism and prejudice. An ignorant and lazy person could conceivably call Michelle prejudiced, however lame that might be. On the other hand, to call her racist exposes that you are not only ignorant....but that you are either a liar or more likely a moron. She has never, to my knowledge, professed that her race or any race is superior to another.

Look up the definitions. Seriously. While it's misguided to call her prejudiced; to call her racist makes you look not only ignorant but incredibly stupid. No amount of conflation of prejudice and racism can erase the fact that while they are related, they are NOT one in the same...no matter how many RWNJ demagogues and talking heads try to make that case.

I see you're a stickler about a very narrow definition of racism when it comes to allegations made about liberals.

Do you stop to suss out whether some poor white guy angrily calling a black man "****er" is racist or (merely?) prejudiced?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChiTown

good lord...........

Look, I know it's convenient for scheming commentators and other lazy folks to ignore....but words matter. Especially when you start tossing around a slanderous invective like racist.

Prejudice is one thing, and nearly all of us have prejudices to varying degrees. Not all who hold prejudices act on them though. If one acts on racial prejudices suggesting that one race as superior to another, that is much more hateful and odious than mere prejudice that is not acted upon.

Conflating the two serves political demagogues well, but purposefully substituting one for the other is a contrived and nefarious attempt to manipulate and manufacture public opinion through lies.

There are plenty of folks on both sides who engage in it, but repeating a lie over-and-over does not make it true.

__________________"America represents something universal ...'You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman..... 'Anybody.... can come to America to live and become an American.'"
--Ronald Reagan, 1988

"There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America. There’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America....We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States....”
--Barrack Obama, 2004

Look, I know it's convenient for scheming commentators and other lazy folks to ignore....but words matter. Especially when you start tossing around a slanderous invective like racist.

Prejudice is one thing, and nearly all of us have prejudices to varying degrees. Not all who hold prejudices act on them though. If one acts on racial prejudices suggesting that one race as superior to another, that is much more hateful and odious than mere prejudice that is not acted upon.

Conflating the two serves political demagogues well, but purposefully substituting one for the other is a contrived and nefarious attempt to manipulate and manufacture public opinion through lies.

There are plenty of folks on both sides who engage in it, but repeating a lie over-and-over does not make it true.

I'll put you down for the "too lazy to think for himself/prefers to have their preferred RWNJ demagogue think for them" column...

__________________"America represents something universal ...'You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman..... 'Anybody.... can come to America to live and become an American.'"
--Ronald Reagan, 1988

"There’s not a liberal America and a conservative America. There’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America....We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States....”
--Barrack Obama, 2004